The celebrity money desk Who's really writing the cheques
●SERENA WILLIAMS16 UNICORNS BACKED●REESE WITHERSPOON$900M MEDIA EXIT●OPRAH WINFREY$43M WEIGHT WATCHERS●GWYNETH PALTROW$250M GOOP VALUATION●RIHANNA$1B SAVAGE X FENTY●JESSICA ALBAHONEST CO. · NASDAQ IPO●HALLE BERRYBACKS WOMEN'S HEALTH●BEYONCÉLEMON PERFECT BACKER●JENNIFER LOPEZHIMS & HERS BACKER●KIM KARDASHIANSKKY PARTNERS PE FUND●SELENA GOMEZGOPUFF STRATEGIC PARTNER●PRIYANKA CHOPRABUMBLE EARLY BACKER●DEEPIKA PADUKONEKA ENTERPRISES INVESTOR●SHAKIRAISIMA HAIRCARE FOUNDER●NATALIE PORTMANANGEL CITY CO-FOUNDER●KERRY WASHINGTONANGEL INVESTOR●MINDY KALINGANGEL INVESTOR●EVA LONGORIACASA DEL SOL CO-FOUNDER●CAMERON DIAZAVALINE CO-FOUNDER●DREW BARRYMOREFLOWER BEAUTY FOUNDER●KATE HUDSONFABLETICS CO-FOUNDER●BLAKE LIVELYBETTY BUZZ FOUNDER●VENUS WILLIAMSELEVEN FOUNDER●NAOMI OSAKAHANA KUMA CO-FOUNDER●MARIA SHARAPOVAPROLIFIC WELLNESS ANGEL●TYRA BANKSFIERCE CAPITAL FOUNDER●KARLIE KLOSSBEDFORD MEDIA FOUNDER●ISSA RAETOPICALS & HILLTOP BACKER●KATY PERRYDE SOI CO-FOUNDER●KYLIE JENNER$1.2B KYLIE COSMETICS●BETHENNY FRANKELSKINNYGIRL FOUNDER●MELINDA FRENCH GATESPIVOTAL VENTURES●CATHIE WOODARK INVEST CEO●MELLODY HOBSONARIEL INVESTMENTS CO-CEO●KIRSTEN GREENFORERUNNER VENTURES●SALLIE KRAWCHECKELLEVEST CEO●MARY MEEKERBOND CAPITAL FOUNDER●ARLAN HAMILTONBACKSTAGE CAPITAL●BARBARA CORCORANSHARK TANK INVESTOR●SHERYL SANDBERGEX-META COO●SARA BLAKELYFOUNDER OF SPANX●KATHY XUCAPITAL TODAY FOUNDER●JENNY LEEGRANITE ASIA PARTNER●SOLINA CHAUHORIZONS VENTURES●KIRAN MAZUMDAR-SHAWBIOCON FOUNDER●FALGUNI NAYARNYKAA FOUNDER●MARÍA ASUNCIÓN ARAMBURUZABALATRESALIA CAPITAL●OLIVIA WILDE$500K–$2M CHEQUES●EMMA WATSON2 DOCUMENTED DEALS●PARIS HILTON20+ STARTUP BETS●THE FOSTER SISTERSBUMBLE AND MIRROR EARLY●GRACE BEVERLEY£6.2M IN TALA'S FIRST YEAR●AILEEN LEECOINED "UNICORN"●ANN MIURA-KOSEED INVESTOR IN LYFT●EMMA GREDE8% OF SKIMS●NAMITA THAPAR100+ COMPANIES BACKED●SERENA WILLIAMS16 UNICORNS BACKED●REESE WITHERSPOON$900M MEDIA EXIT●OPRAH WINFREY$43M WEIGHT WATCHERS●GWYNETH PALTROW$250M GOOP VALUATION●RIHANNA$1B SAVAGE X FENTY●JESSICA ALBAHONEST CO. · NASDAQ IPO●HALLE BERRYBACKS WOMEN'S HEALTH●BEYONCÉLEMON PERFECT BACKER●JENNIFER LOPEZHIMS & HERS BACKER●KIM KARDASHIANSKKY PARTNERS PE FUND●SELENA GOMEZGOPUFF STRATEGIC PARTNER●PRIYANKA CHOPRABUMBLE EARLY BACKER●DEEPIKA PADUKONEKA ENTERPRISES INVESTOR●SHAKIRAISIMA HAIRCARE FOUNDER●NATALIE PORTMANANGEL CITY CO-FOUNDER●KERRY WASHINGTONANGEL INVESTOR●MINDY KALINGANGEL INVESTOR●EVA LONGORIACASA DEL SOL CO-FOUNDER●CAMERON DIAZAVALINE CO-FOUNDER●DREW BARRYMOREFLOWER BEAUTY FOUNDER●KATE HUDSONFABLETICS CO-FOUNDER●BLAKE LIVELYBETTY BUZZ FOUNDER●VENUS WILLIAMSELEVEN FOUNDER●NAOMI OSAKAHANA KUMA CO-FOUNDER●MARIA SHARAPOVAPROLIFIC WELLNESS ANGEL●TYRA BANKSFIERCE CAPITAL FOUNDER●KARLIE KLOSSBEDFORD MEDIA FOUNDER●ISSA RAETOPICALS & HILLTOP BACKER●KATY PERRYDE SOI CO-FOUNDER●KYLIE JENNER$1.2B KYLIE COSMETICS●BETHENNY FRANKELSKINNYGIRL FOUNDER●MELINDA FRENCH GATESPIVOTAL VENTURES●CATHIE WOODARK INVEST CEO●MELLODY HOBSONARIEL INVESTMENTS CO-CEO●KIRSTEN GREENFORERUNNER VENTURES●SALLIE KRAWCHECKELLEVEST CEO●MARY MEEKERBOND CAPITAL FOUNDER●ARLAN HAMILTONBACKSTAGE CAPITAL●BARBARA CORCORANSHARK TANK INVESTOR●SHERYL SANDBERGEX-META COO●SARA BLAKELYFOUNDER OF SPANX●KATHY XUCAPITAL TODAY FOUNDER●JENNY LEEGRANITE ASIA PARTNER●SOLINA CHAUHORIZONS VENTURES●KIRAN MAZUMDAR-SHAWBIOCON FOUNDER●FALGUNI NAYARNYKAA FOUNDER●MARÍA ASUNCIÓN ARAMBURUZABALATRESALIA CAPITAL●OLIVIA WILDE$500K–$2M CHEQUES●EMMA WATSON2 DOCUMENTED DEALS●PARIS HILTON20+ STARTUP BETS●THE FOSTER SISTERSBUMBLE AND MIRROR EARLY●GRACE BEVERLEY£6.2M IN TALA'S FIRST YEAR●AILEEN LEECOINED "UNICORN"●ANN MIURA-KOSEED INVESTOR IN LYFT●EMMA GREDE8% OF SKIMS●NAMITA THAPAR100+ COMPANIES BACKED
Tennis · Serena Ventures
Serena Williams
One of the most active celebrity investors of her generation. Williams started backing startups in 2014 and turned that into Serena Ventures, which raised a $111 million debut fund in 2022 and has backed more than 100 companies — 16 of them now worth over a billion dollars. Roughly 70% of the portfolio is led by women or people of color. In 2026 she rebranded the firm Starfire Ventures.
How Serena Williams Is Transforming Venture Capital · via Bloomberg Originals
The thesis
How Serena Williams invests
Serena Ventures, rebranded Starfire Ventures in 2026, writes early-stage checks into founders that mainstream venture capital tends to overlook, with roughly 70% of its portfolio led by women or people of color. Williams looks for founders solving a problem that is personal to them in a market with genuine open space, across consumer products, fintech, health and climate. She is pointed that this is a returns business rather than philanthropy, and says she won't invest unless she believes a company can return the whole fund. What began in 2014 as a home for her personal angel bets became a $111 million debut institutional fund in 2022 and has now backed more than 100 companies, 16 of them unicorns.
I remember finding that company with like eight people in a small room in a garage in San Francisco. And I just fell in love with what they were doing and what they were building.
Fintech that reports on-time rent payments to the major credit bureaus so renters can build credit histories and access better financial products.
When
Series A, July 2021 (~$10M); doubled down at the $130M Series B, January 2022
Why
Fits Serena Ventures' financial-inclusion thesis; the firm was an existing investor and increased its stake as Esusu scaled to millions of housing units. Co-founders Abbey Wemimo and Samir Goel target immigrant and minority renters.
Status
Unicorn — $1B valuation at the SoftBank Vision Fund 2-led Series B
Virtual clinic providing menopause, perimenopause and midlife women's healthcare across all 50 US states.
When
Participated in the $100M Series D, 2026
Why
Addresses a large, underserved gap in women's health — a core Serena Ventures focus area. Serena Ventures joined the round alongside Goodwater Capital and Foresite Capital.
Online education platform streaming classes taught by expert instructors across arts, business, sports and more.
When
One of her earliest checks, mid-2010s (pre-institutional fund)
Why
Williams says she found the company when it was about eight people in a San Francisco garage and 'fell in love' with what they were building; she also teaches a tennis class on the platform.
Global marketplace that vets and places remote software engineers, originally built around African tech talent.
When
Series D (January 2019) and the SoftBank-led Series E (2021)
Why
Fits the fund's aim to expand access and opportunity by connecting overlooked global talent to work; she invested alongside Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Generation Investment Management.
Black-owned peer-to-peer lending platform connecting borrowers seeking small, short-term loans with community lenders.
When
Serena Ventures led a seven-figure round, February 2023
Why
Financial inclusion plus a founding team from an underrepresented background — a direct thesis fit; Serena Ventures led the round as SoLo crossed one million users.
Short-video social network for children, often described as a 'TikTok for kids' built around safe, moderated challenges.
When
Serena Ventures joined the ~$4M seed round, 2021
Why
A kids' social and edtech play; Serena Ventures backed the seed alongside MaC Venture Capital and Talis Capital, and she remained a backer through later rounds.
Status
Still private; raised a $17M Series A in 2022 (investors included the NBA)
Photo: SWinxy, own work — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
What the record doesn't say
Read this with the gaps in mind.
Serena Ventures rarely says how much it puts into any one company, and the public list leans toward the winners — startups that failed or were quietly written off usually go unreported.
Serena Williams has backed Esusu, Midi Health, MasterClass, Impossible Foods, and 11 more. Each one is listed on this page with what the company does and a link to named reporting.
How much has Serena Williams invested?
Cheque sizes are almost never disclosed, and Serena Williams's are mostly private. Where a round size, stake or valuation has been reported we cite the source; otherwise we flag it as undisclosed rather than guess.
How does Serena Williams invest?
Serena Ventures, rebranded Starfire Ventures in 2026, writes early-stage checks into founders that mainstream venture capital tends to overlook, with roughly 70% of its portfolio led by women or people of color.
16 unicorns backed